J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of both the J. P. Beaumont series and the Joanna Brady Series. She has written 40 novels and she has more than 10 million copies of her books in print. Visit her Web site: JAJance.com.

Where Oh Where Have I been?- – on “Trial By Fire” Book Tour

First off, I’m not sick, and I’m not dead. When my blog didn’t show up on time, people were concerned. And they let me know. What I really am is on tour. And on no known time zone. And none of the internet connections have been high speed enough to make updating the website possible, and updating the website is what it takes to update the blog.

This week we’ve managed to get in and out of Chicago without being stuck in their first major snowstorm of the year. We left early (make that VERY early) yesterday morning. When we left it was clear and cold. This morning it’s snowy and icy. (It’s evidently also VERY cold in Seattle with a threat of snow in the forecast for Friday when we’re supposed to come back home. We’ll see how that works out for us.)

This tour has been done on commercial aircraft where I discovered that I’m allowed a quart sized baggy to carry liquids. Who came up with that idea? Probably the same kind of faceless entity who decided we need to cut down on the number of mammograms being passed out in this country. I have news for Homeland Security: Women of a certain age who are on tour require certain liquids to keep us from looking . . . well . . . our age. When I was busted for having a gallon sized baggy of liquids, I had to stand there and toss out stuff under the supervision of a not-so-nice TSA guy. I absolutely adore being treated with contempt by young men with crewcuts who never had to use hair spray or gel or moisturizer in their lives. Oh, well, I’ll be writing another book soon, and I have a pretty clear idea of who my next bad guy will resemble!

This week I’ve also heard from people who have read the new book. One woman, who’s history is much like that of the fictional Sister Anslem, in Trial By Fire wrote to let me know that she appreciated my mention of Germans being sent to relocation centers during World War II. On the West Coast we hear about the Japanese War Relocation centers but very little about the fact that other nationalities were also involved in that historical reality.

Someone else wrote to say I had my Homeland Security wires crossed. What a surprise. I’m a liberal arts major, after all. I may not know which alphabet soup government agency works in conjunction with which other alphabet soup agency, but I DO know that gallon-sized baggies are verboten!

With any kind of luck, today I’ll meet a fan, a retired police officer whose back was broken while he attempted to arrest a resisting child molester. During treatment for that incident–which also resulted in his being forcibly retired–the doctors discovered that he has a rare form of cancer. He’s enjoying reading my books, and I’m looking forward to meeting him. Photos will definitely be in order. I have a feeling the child molester is back out on the streets. The former cop is still confined to a wheelchair. That’s the difference between fiction and real life. In fiction the good guys win and the bad guys lose.

But that’s what being on tour is all about–meeting people, hearing their stories, and learning about how my stories impact my readers. We’ve been in and out of airports and in and out of hotels. We’ve been waking up in strange beds without knowing for sure which direction to go looking for a bathroom. But we’re into the last week now. We’ll be home for Christmas, and I hope you are, too.